Mrs. Nixon's Shopping Day: Pajamas, China

PEKING, Feb. 25 (AP)—Mrs. Richard M. Nixon did some shopping for her family today, the final full day of her visit here, buying the President silk pajamas and choosing a set of china for her daughter, Mrs. David Eisenhower.

Mrs. Nixon bought nothing for herself.

“Wow!” she exclaimed, when interpreters said that a deep‐green jade ring that she had seen cost 80,000 yuan—about $34,000.

Before browsing at the Friendship Stores, Mrs. Nixon joined the President for a two‐hour tour of the Forbidden City, then went off to visit a children's hospital.

She looked at pajamas in one store and decided on a pair of off‐white silk for the President. They were size 44 and cost about $8.50.

Mrs. Nixon strolled to another store and bought a set of china with a blue‐andwhite rice pattern for about $7. The set came with six cups and saucers, milk jar and sugar bowl, but she ordered six extra cups and saucers to make it a dozen. “It's for Julie,” she said. “Navy wives come in, and she does not have enough cups and saucers.”

Mrs. Nixon said she had talked by telephone with her daughter in Long Beach, Calif. David Eisenhower, Julie's husband, is in the Navy.

The First Lady greeted several girls in another store but demurred when they offered her floral brocades. She inspected jewelry, glassware, lace work and lacquerware in other shops but did not buy anything.

Earlier she donned a white medical cloak to watch two young girls receive acupuncture in Children's Hospital. Mrs. Nixon was told that 85 per cent of the 600‐bed hos pital's medical staff were women.

She visited the nursery, where children sat around tables singing, and peeped at the maternity department, then ducked out quickly. “I don't think we should go in where the babies are so young,” she said.

The Nixons started the day with a tour of the Forbidden City. The President cracked jokes as he surmounted the snow‐covered courtyards and icy steps to the palaces.

Shown a royal reception room where child‐emperors had handled affairs of state with prompting from their mothers, who had hid behind screens, Mr. Nixon said: “It's the same today. The women are always the back‐seat drivers.”

In the museum section, Mr. Nixon saw some gold earstoppers used by the royalty: “Give me a pair, will you?” he said.

The Presidential party toured throne rooms, offices of rulers dead for centuries and royal bedrooms. They saw relics dating as far back as 7,000 B.C. and Han Dynasty bronzes. “Some of of art work is just out of this world,” Mrs. Nixon said.

Speaking of the visit, she said the Chinese had “tried so hard to make everything pleasant.”

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A version of this archives appears in print on February 26, 1972, on Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: Mrs. Nixon's Shopping Day: Pajamas, China. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe